Iran is steadily rebuilding its nuclear program and stalled talks with the United States have increased the likelihood of another direct confrontation with Israel, HuffPost Italy reported citing a former senior Mossad official.
“Iran is continually working to rebuild its nuclear program," the former official said, speaking anonymously due to what the outlet described as pressure from Iran.
"The dialogue with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has been interrupted, and the one with the United States is stalled and making no progress. Given this situation, there is reason to believe that we could soon find ourselves facing another round of direct war between Iran and Israel,” he added.
Israel launched a surprise military campaign in June which was capped with US attacks on the three key nuclear sites in Esfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
US President Donald Trump said the attacks had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program but a diplomatic standoff over its fate continues to fester.
The ex-Mossad official said strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during the twelve-day war in June caused “serious damage” but did not destroy Iran’s nuclear material, adding that Tehran is strengthening defenses around key sites.
Iran’s leadership, the former official assessed, is divided over talks with the United States, with President Masoud Pezeshkian favoring compromise while Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards oppose concessions.
"I do not believe the Supreme Leader will allow Pezeshkian to reach an agreement and prevent a war. The situation could deteriorate,” he said.
Iran signals military readiness
His assessment came as Iran’s defense minister issued a fresh warning about the country’s military posture towards any hostile action from its adversaries.
Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said Iran is “monitoring threats accurately and continuously” and is prepared to respond “more decisively and more harshly than in the past."
"In the twelve-day war, we displayed part of our capabilities, and of course we did not reveal all our defensive power," he said.
"Today, with full strength and complete intelligence oversight, we are ready to respond to any threat ... If our enemies make a miscalculation and any movement or hostile action ... they will undoubtedly face an immediate and regret-inducing reaction," he added.
Mossad operates 'inside' Iran
The former Mossad official's comments followed separate disclosures about Israeli intelligence activity in Iran.
In a separate report on Thursday, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said former Mossad director Yossi Cohen told a private conference that the agency operates “inside Iran itself” and recruits sources directly, according to recordings obtained by the paper.
“(Iran) is not a place where we operate by proxy,” Cohen was quoted as saying.
“We go in to recruit and to bring intelligence,” he added.
Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and hundreds of military personnel and civilians during the June war exposed deep intelligence lapses in the Islamic Republic.
In the aftermath of the 12-day war which culminated in US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Tehran's intelligence forces arrested more than 700 Iranians accused of acting as agents for Israel.
The arrests targeted what authorities described as an “active espionage and sabotage network” that intensified operations after Israeli attacks.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government recently seized 447 kilograms of narcotics and performance-enhancing substances – largely amphetamine-based – during coordinated raids carried out on land and at sea.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Gunter Younger told the agency that the seizure was “a landmark moment,” saying it shows law-enforcement bodies are now taking the trafficking of banned substances far more seriously.
WADA and Yemeni officials assessed, AFP reported, that a safe haven for drugs production in Syria had collapsed with the fall of Bashar al-Assad to rebel forces in December and that the lawless Arabian Peninsula country was taking its place.
"Iran is the one that provided the experts with financial support and modern equipment, and investigations have proven this, as well as the experts' confessions," Major Murad al-Radwany, Interpol's Yemen-based internal security coordinator told AFP on Thursday.
Yemen's internationally-recognized government is at war with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls most of the country's population centers.
Iranian-backed production and smuggling
The dismantled facility was “the first factory to be set up in Yemen and equipped with the latest modern devices,” Radwany said.
The builders, he said, planned to open additional labs in other cities to produce stimulants for export.
"The Houthis consider it a source of income, facilitating smuggling to neighboring countries,” he added.
"Iran also benefits from this, and its goal is to export drugs and stimulants to Arab countries and destabilize security and stability in Yemen and neighboring countries."
This aligns with earlier reports, which has documented how the collapse of central government control in Syria turned that country – long a global hub for the amphetamine-based drug Captagon – into a major production center. Iran-backed militias and regional proxy groups, according to those reports, have helped smuggle Captagon into Persian Gulf states, fueling instability and militia financing.
A 2025 case in Syria saw the arrest of a militia leader linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on charges of drug trafficking and antiquities smuggling.
Iran’s response
In response to the allegations, an Iranian foreign-ministry spokesperson told AFP that the accusations are “unfounded.”
Nonetheless, the mounting drug busts and associated intelligence suggest a widening spotlight on Iran’s involvement in regional narcotics – with growing calls for independent investigation and international scrutiny.
Mehdi Rasouli, a well-known maddah or religious eulogist and chant leader, performed at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah in Tehran. It is the main auditorium within Khamenei's office complex known as Beyt-e Rahbari or the Leader's house.
“From now on, we have one goal — and that is the heart of Tel Aviv,” he said. "Your accursed name will no longer remain in this world. Tell that yellow-haired murderer he will be no more," he said in reference to Donald Trump to loud assent from attendees.
The event held earlier this week formed part of ceremonies marking Basij Day, when Iran’s volunteer paramilitary force is feted.
Eulogists in Iran's Shi'ite Muslim tradition deploy chants and poetry to encourage enthusiasm in religious gatherings. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which ushered in a theocracy, the content of their presentations reflect state political ideology.
"Bullies stronger than you lie buried under piles of earth," Rasouli continued. "You will not see Iran’s surrender even in your dreams ... Are you too, like Pharaoh, thinking you will not die?"
"Death does not hesitate even a moment to take your soul. It wouldn’t hurt to visit the graves of Carter and Reagan once in a while," he said.
Crowd reactions followed the familiar arc of such performances – chants at crescendos, brief laughter at lines like “If you mention the name of Iran, be polite,” and tears as Rasouli invoked recent war dead, including Revolutionary Guard commanders killed in clashes with Israel.
He delivered the poem in epic, martial cadences, and the audience periodically answered with slogans.
The recital ended with pledges of allegiance to the Supreme Leader, prompting the hall to respond “Labbayk, labbayk” – an Arabic formula of assent meaning “at your service” in a show of allegiance to Khamenei.
A poem of menace and myth
A maddah is a lay performer, not a cleric. Over three decades, their role has expanded from mourning rites to emotionally charged performances that can carry political overtones.
Their verses, set to strong rhythms, aim to stir grief for the martyrs of Karbala, devotion to the Prophet’s family, and, increasingly, political zeal.
When delivered at the leader’s own venue, the rhetoric carries extra weight for loyalists – even as officials can argue that maddahs speak for themselves, not for the state.
Rasouli’s text stitched together recurring motifs. He opened by hailing Iranian resilience and vowing ultimate triumph – “In the end, Iran will be the victor of the battle” – before pivoting to taunts of US and Israeli leaders.
At another point he warned: “Ajal does not delay in taking your soul,” using the Persian term ajal – the appointed time of death – to suggest that fate, or the Angel of Death, does not pause, a standard rhetorical device in Persian oratory.
The poem drew on classical Persian epic and Shi'ite sacred history.
Rasouli invoked Rostam, the pre-Islamic epic hero of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, likening Israel to a div (demon) and rhyming “div” with “Aviv” to fix the poem’s “final aim on the heart of Tel Aviv.”
He also reached for Shi'ite iconography, saying Ali, the first Shi'ite Imam, would come for Israel with his bifurcated sword Zolfaghar, a symbol widely recognized in Iran.
The barbs sat alongside appeals to faith and fidelity: victory, he said, hinges on obedience to the Supreme Leader – a cue for synchronized chants of “Labayk.”
Modern military references appeared in the poem too. In a couplet that played on rhyme and Iranian missiles, Rasouli said: “If you have bunker-busters, we have Kheibar-Shekan,” pairing the Persian for “bunker-breaker” (sangar-shekan) with Kheibar-Shekan (Khaybar-Breaker), the name of an Iranian solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missile unveiled in 2022.
Khaybar also refers to a 7th-century Jewish oasis near Medina and, in Shi'ite lore, to Imam Ali’s breaching of its fort – a religious touchstone repurposed in modern rhetoric.
Why eulogists matter
Under Ali Khamenei, maddahs regularly perform at his residence on major religious occasions and enjoy networks of patronage that can extend through state and quasi-state institutions.
Analysts say eulogists act as emotional amplifiers: knitting mourning, nationalism and loyalty into a single ritual package.
Within pro-government circles, however, the venue and proximity to power matter; when a poem is staged at the leader’s inner sanctum, supporters treat it as consonant with the leadership’s mood, if not a formal policy.
The eulogist scene is diverse, spanning apolitical performers, staunch loyalists to the leadership, and figures tied to rival conservative factions.
Celebrity maddahs have campaigned for candidates, criticized senior officials, and at times helped mobilize crowds.
Their hey’ats (religious associations) fund and stage mass ceremonies during Muharram and Arbaeen, and some maintain close ties with the Revolutionary Guards’ Basij militia.
There are at least 150,000 maddahs in Iran now some of whom receive “astronomical” sums as “gifts” for their much-advertised performances.
In a genre long fused with piety and politics, Rasouli leaned into a newer twist: Persian epic motifs spliced onto Shi'ite heroism – a form once anchored almost entirely in Shi'ite themes.
Shahnameh references now sit alongside invocations of Ali and the “martyrs,” recasting loss and defiance in a national-myth frame.
Inside the hall, the result is part sermon, part rally, part catharsis.